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Two men sentenced in robbery on Steel St.

YOUNGSTOWN — A judge told two young men that they made a big mistake when they stole a PlayStation game and cellphone from a man on Steel Street in July while armed with guns.

“The unfortunate thing is, you started at the top,” visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny told Nathaniel Carter, 19, of Winona Drive and Bennie L. Poole, 19, of North Evanston Avenue, during a sentencing hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

“You started at the most serious. You are both very young men, and you started with the most serious offenses, aggravated robbery, felony one,” the judge said. “My wish is that you take the punishment like a man and that you do your time with your head down and then you prepare yourself for when you get out. To make your families proud of you instead of ashamed for something you did.”

Later he sentenced both men to 4 to 5 1/2 years in prison, but both will be eligible for an early release after 18 months. It was a sentence the prosecution and defense jointly recommended to the judge. Prosecutors will not oppose judicial release. A common pleas court judge would have to approve their request for early release.

Judge Pokorny is handling cases for Judge R. Scott Krichbaum while Krichbaum recuperates from surgery.

Michael Rich, assistant county prosecutor, told Pokorny that Poole and Carter wore masks, brandished weapons and wore dark clothing as they robbed a Pennsylvania man who had come to Youngstown to sell them the game system.

When the Pennsylvania man arrived, a woman flagged him over near a tavern. That’s when Poole and Carter appeared. After robbing him, they fled, but Youngstown police spotted the two wearing clothing that matched that of the robbers and took them into custody. The robbery was captured on surveillance video.

The men and their attorneys called the decision to rob the man “a really bad idea” and “dumb,” with Poole’s attorney, Lynn Maro, pointing out that Poole is a drug addict.

“It was a stupid idea. I made a bad mistake,” Poole said.

erunyan@tribtoday.com

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